The One Where We're All Aboard

We’ve hopped on the train—the potty train. It’s been quite a ride.

Two weeks ago, I woke up and put the Little Lady in her big girl underwear, showed her a snazzy potty chart and revealed some very enticing Hello Kitty stickers. The tiny bathroom downstairs was set up like a shrine to potty trainees everywhere. There’s a stepstool in front of the toilet, a stepstool in front of the sink, special wipes, kiddy soap, charts, stickers, books, and a basket full of clean underwear. We could barely fit in there to do any of the training.

The first day went way worse than I expected. It was rather shocking, really. Not one time did she go on the potty. I had to do two loads of laundry each consisting of 6 tiny pairs of underwear and a towel. I needed some reinforcement.

The second day greeted us with similar success. However, reinforcement did come in the form of You Tube videos that I found under a search for “potty training.” The Little Lady seemed to be encouraged to see that Elmo, a big bear, and a surprising amount of children whose parents broadcast their toilet antics all use the potty. But still, she did not go on the potty that morning. Not. One. Time.

Up until that point, I hadn’t read much about how to potty train. The one time I read an article, it was filled with such ridiculous ideas that I never read another one. But I was feeling desperate. I put the Little Lady down for a nap just in time for the most helpful e-book to arrive from a friend. I frantically read most of the 85 pages while she slept. I immediately liked this book because the first thing it explained was that potty training could make one mad and emotional. I was normal after all!

One of the first suggestions was to make the switch from diapers to real underwear. Check! We’d already taken that step and have remained consistent with it—even her ever-accommodating daycare has tossed out the Pull-Ups!

The second suggestion was to set a “potty-timer” for every twenty minutes. Well, twenty minutes proved to be too frequent so we adjusted accordingly. But it worked! Who knew that over-reacting and dancing at the mere sound of the microwave timer would be so encouraging? “It’s potty time!”

By the second evening, she was going in the potty like it was nobody’s business. Hello Kitty stickers were flying onto that chart faster than you can say, “It’s potty time!” Sure, we still hit a few snafus, but she was on her way.

For the most part, we’ve holed ourselves up in the house for the past two weeks—only venturing out for an hour or two in the late afternoons or evenings. And when we have gone out, the Little Lady is fully protected in a Pull-Up… (Come on, I didn’t really throw out all the diapers!)

…Until today. It is time to man up—there is a great big world out there, and it is full of public restrooms! I just hope that we never have to actually use any of those restrooms. Our trip to the park this morning was very successful—no accidents in the park and no trip to a nasty bathroom. The truth is that I took a potty chair with me. Oh, I can just hear the snickers now, but a park bathroom at this point is just out of the question as far as I’m concerned. Later, we are going to her jumping gym sans diapers and sans potty chair in my trunk. If the need arises, you will find us running, probably yelling “It’s potty time,” as fast as we can towards the cleanest spot we can find.